The two main communist parties of Kerala, CPI(M) and CPI, still swear by materialism and atheism but that has not prevented them from hosting seminars in order to attract Hindu, Christian and Muslim voters in the context of the BJP getting re-energized under the leadership of Narendra Modi and the confusion created on the poll scene by the Aam Aadmi Party.
While on the one side the CPI(M) has been holding highly publicized seminars in Malabar, Kerala’s northern region, on topics “Muslims and left in Malabar” and “Migration and Development in Malabar” to woo Muslims and Christians respectively, the CPI is holding workshops on subjects like Vedanta to attract the Hindu voters this month-end.
With eyes riveted on Hindu votes, the CPI’s NE Balaram Trust will hold from January 26 to 28 national seminars and workshops on Indian philosophy and culture under the common title of “Bharateeyam” in Kannur. A special convention on the life and work of Swami Vivekananda also is being organized.
As part of the programme, the trust will conduct workshops on Brahmanya and Aranyakas, Indian Thought, Relevance and Significance of Upanishadic literature and Vedanta and Indian Knowledge Systems. The trust has also roped in prominent scholars and dignitaries from universities to present the various subjects at the workshops.
The CPI trust’s workshops are being held close on the heels of the much-publicized seminars held in different parts of Malabar by the CPI(M) with the obvious objective of wooing Muslim and Christian voters. However, Marxist theorists and the top leadership are not yet convinced about the success of these seminars.
While a CPI leader said that the workshops they were going to host was in tune with the immense interest several party leaders of yesteryears had shown in the subject of Indian philosophy, the CPI(M) had not made any
effort to hide its real intention behind the conduct of seminars on the links between the minorities and the left.
Marxist party theoretician and its central committee member TM Thomas Isaac was, in fact, very direct about this intention when he said at a seminar on “Malabar Migration: History and Development”, held the other day at Iritti, Kannur that there was every reason in contemporary India for the communists and Christians to join hands.
At this seminar, held by the party’s Patyam Gopalan Memorial Study and Research Centre, Isaac said that the reasons being cited by Pope Francis for the social and economic crises in the world were the difference between the haves and have-nots and liberalized trade as propounded by capitalism, a theory held fast by the left anywhere in the world.
Observers say that the two communist parties have launched the open bid to woo religious votes as they are convinced that a large section of the lDF’s supporters among the middle class and upper middle class Hindus are bidding good bye to it to align with the BJP with the advent of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP-led NDA’s prime ministerial candidate.
“Support of middle class Hindus had always been a major reason behind the electoral victories of the left, especially the CPI(M). late Marxist guru EMS Namboothiripad had been firm about not losing this support. But a good section of such Hindus has been disillusioned with the left in the recent past,” admitted a pro-CPI(M) journalist.
There are contradicting reports on the reason for the move of the two communist parties to woo different sections of religious votes. One theory is that the CPI has been allowed to woo the Hindus by the CPI(M) as per a decision reached at within the lDF as the Marxists’ efforts to attract Christians and Muslims have not been quite successful.
However, independent observers opine that the CPI, which has always been competing with the CPI(M) to broaden its base among the masses, chose to woo the Hindus with the plan of exploiting the situation where they have developed an aversion for the Marxists.